Asset Forfeiture

Does current UK asset forfeiture law strike the correct balance between the interests of the general public in the recovery of the proceeds of crime and the rights of the defendant?

It is not a matter in dispute, nor simply the rabid knee jerking of the tabloid press, that the interests of the general public dictate that crime should not pay, and that criminals should be stripped of assets obtained through their criminal conduct. The rights of defendants subject to confiscation proceedings, and indeed the basis of prosecution in the UK, that the Crown brings the case and therefore it is for the Crown to prove their case, must however be weighed against this. Asset forfeiture law in the UK, when challenged on the grounds of proportionality in the case of R v Smith¹, elicited this response at para 23 from their Lordships;